The National Rifle Association and Second Amendment Foundation filed a suit against a second city in Washington State this week.

In the lawsuit, the gun-rights groups claimed that the city of Edmonds, Wash., violated the state’s preemption law by passing their own ordinance requiring gun owners to store their firearms so that they are locked and inaccessible when the owner isn’t actively carrying or using them. The plaintiffs claimed that the city’s ordinance could hamper residents’ ability to defend themselves and their homes. The gun-rights groups said that when the ordinance goes into effect on August 23, 2018, their members as well as the two local residents who signed on to the suit could face up to $10,000 in fines per infraction.

The NRA said it opposed the ordinance and believes it is illegal.

“No other organization does more to promote the safe and responsible use of firearms. The bulk of NRA’s budget is dedicated to firearm safety and training,” Jennifer Baker, a spokesperson for the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, told the Washington Free Beacon. “The NRA opposes this poorly thought out legislation that will make people less safe in their own homes. The ordinance is a one-size fits all approach that invades people’s homes and forces them to render their firearms useless in self-defense situations. In addition to restricting the self-defense rights of Edmond residents, the ordinance is in clear violation of Washington’s state preemption statute.”

These “safe storage” laws sound great if you don’t know any better. To the uninitiated, the idea of requiring guns to be locked up sounds good and safe.

The problem is, if you need a gun, you need one right then and there. If you can’t get to it because you’re fooling with a lock, people can die.

Period.

But people like this don’t understand the reality of personal defense. They don’t understand one-size-fits-all solutions usually don’t fit anyone. They don’t comprehend that gun owners make determinations based on their own needs and situation rather than what some idiotic lawmaker wants to say should be standard.

That’s why the NRA should be fighting this nonsense. It will get people killed, and it won’t protect anyone else. It’s nothing but a law designed to make lawmakers look like they’re doing something without actually having to do anything of substance. They get to preen for the press, for their anti-gun constituents and give the middle finger to the gun owners, all without doing anything that does any good.

Such is politics, and such is why gun rights activists need to battle over these kinds of laws. The lawsuit is a good thing and it needs to happen every time some community thinks they can tell people how they can utilize their right to keep and bear arms.

Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. He's also the host of Unloaded TV on YouTube.
https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton/